LeetCode 453. Minimum Moves to Equal Array Elements

Problem Statement

(Source) Given a non-empty integer array of size n, find the minimum number of moves required to make all array elements equal, where a move is incrementing n - 1 elements by 1.

Example:

Input:
[1,2,3]

Output:
3

Explanation:
Only three moves are needed (remember each move increments two elements):

[1,2,3]  =>  [2,3,3]  =>  [3,4,3]  =>  [4,4,4]

Solution

Think about this problem in the reversed direction. How about decrementing exactly one element per move?

class Solution(object):
    def minMoves(self, nums):
        """
        :type nums: List[int]
        :rtype: int
        """
        return sum(nums) - min(nums) * len(nums)

Complexity Analysis:

• Time Complexity: $O(n)$.
• Space Complexity: $O(1)$.